A Renault executive has suggested the French firm won’t build a new Clio RS, saying engineering the small hot hatch to meet ever-tightening emissions regulations would make it far too expensive.
Speaking to Auto Express, Ali Kasai, Renault’s executive vice-president of product planning, suggested there wasn’t a business case for a hot version of the fifth-generation Clio.
“Today a Clio RS would need very elaborate technology to reach lower CO2 levels. And by keeping the high performance necessary for such a vehicle, you would have to charge such a big premium that those customers would be mostly unable to afford it,” Kasai told the publication.
“At the moment, even if we love sporty cars, as is our history, we can’t find the solution to that equation – it’s impossible. Also, looking at the competition, we don’t see many rivals,” he added.
Instead, Kasai hinted a hot version of the Zoe electric vehicle could indirectly replace the Clio RS.
“We need to be in line with the current trends; we have to invent the future sporty cars. This is the role of Renault Sport – to be innovative,” Kasai said.
“Zoe, that concept [the Zoe e-sport show car of 2017], it is exactly what we were thinking and we still think. That car was appreciated by many people, they loved it, they want to buy it from the feedback we get,” he added.
